The Minardi Cosworth Team has announced it has signed Tiago Monteiro as an official test driver for the 2004 season. As such, the 27-year-old, from Portugal, will assist the team with its test and development programme in the course of the year, “dovetailing” these commitments with a full season competing in the World Series, where he will be driving for the highly regarded Carlin Motorsport organisation. He will not take part in Friday test sessions during Formula One weekends.

Monteiro has certainly not trodden an “accepted” route to the top levels of motor racing, having started his career in 1997, in the French Porsche Carrera Cup, after being inspired by his father, was also a competitor in the series. Since then, Monteiro has raced successfully in a wide variety of categories, including the French F3 Championship, French GT Championship, Andros Trophy (ice racing), and FIA International F3000 Championship, while also competing in a number of significant one-off events, such as the 24 Hours of Le Mans, Macau Grand Prix, Korea Super Prix and Marlboro Masters. In 2003, he joined Fittipaldi Dingman Racing for a season in the hard-fought Champ Car World Series, once again proving himself to be both versatile and highly competitive, having achieving a Pole Position in Mexico City and having leading the St. Petersbourg and Mid-Ohio races.

“We're very pleased to have signed Tiago as a test driver,” says Minardi Cosworth Team Principal, Paul Stoddart. “It is precisely because of his extensive motor racing experience, and his obvious adaptability to widely differing types of machinery, that we felt he could be of real assistance to us in developing the Minardi Cosworth PS04B this year. The new car has shown distinct promise in pre-season testing, but we are very aware that nothing in F1 stands still – we need to have a solid test programme in place in order to work on steadily improving the new chassis. We believe that Tiago, and fellow tester, Bas Leinders, will be able to help us achieve our goals in this area.”

“I am truly pleased for having been chosen as an Official F1 Test Driver for Minardi, which will give me the opportunity to participate in the development of the new car. I will certainly take the most out of this opportunity, evolving the car and, as a driver being a close observer of Formula 1 cutting edge technology, during the 2004 season. I consider this occasion to be of paramount importance for me and for Portugal, which has once again a foot in the F1 world”, explained Tiago Monteiro. “Along with the F1, being able to participate in the World Series by Nissan, in such a renowned Team as Carlin, is a great honour for me. I have the opportunity to come back to Europe and join a Team that will be fighting for a top spot. I want to thank Paul Stoddart (Minardi) and Trevor Carlin (Carlin Motorsport) for this opportunity, and also my partners Santogal, Brose, Iberotel, Cheers, Brisa and Elf for their support.”